Improvement in fluting-irons



' i TQE. KING-g` FLUfTI'NG-IRON. :Ny-187,715.1] PatennedFeb. 27, 18717..

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IMPROVEMENT IN FLUTlNG-IRONS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 187,715, dated February `27, 1877 application filed April 12, 1876.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE E. KING. of Rockville, in the county of Tolland and State of Connecticut, have" invented certain new and useful Improvements pertaining to a Fluting and Crimping Device, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, where- Figure l is a side view ot' an apparatus for iluting or crimping cloth embodying my .invention. Fig. 2 is a top view of same. Fig. 3 is a side view of an apparatus for crimping hair embodying' my invention. Fig. 4. is a top view ot' same. Fig. 5 is a front view of same. Fig. 6 is a view in section on plane x x, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow. Fig. 7 is a-view the same as Fig. 6, except that the handles are caught together by the mortised latch. 4

The letters a b denote two corresponding crimping' or iluting plates, the projections of the one corresponding to the depressions ot' the other borne on handle-rods c c, which are both made of a single elastic rod, loopedV or doubled, as shown in the drawings. The elastic quality is necessary in order to cause the plates a b to open or separate after being pressed together to crimp or ute the cloth or hair. So far as now described the cloth-fluter and the hair-crim per are the same in construction, except? that the cloth-fluter has larger' plates than the hair-crimper. Both have the handles d, oi wood or other material which is a non-conductor ot' heat, so that the device may be readily handled when hot.

In practice or use it is not intended to directly heat the cloth-fluter, but to lay it on a table, insert the cloth to, be liuted, and then rest a heated tlatiron on the upper plate, which will press the upper plate down upon the cloth, and the heat of the flat-iron, being communicated to the plate c, will make it hot enough to effect the tluting.

In using the hair-crimper I prefer that it be heated in hot Water, so that it may not become hot enough to burn or crisp the hair. To effect the crimping oi' the hair with this heat it is .requisite that the plates be held together upon the hair for some seconds, and the repetition of this process requires more strength than it is convenient for most ladies to exert. To obviate this diflculty I have devised the latche, pivoted and swinging upon one of the handle-rods, with a shouldered mortise, f,'inclosing the other handle-rod, so that 'when the handles are pressed together the operator can, by a movement of the thumb, swing this latch to one side, as shown in Fig. 7, and, catching the lower rod on one of the shoulders f locklthe handles, and, consequently, the plates, together.

So far as the tirst clause of' the following claim is concerned, I limit myself to lutingplates only, not claiming equivalents therefor, as I only desire to cover and claim a device which will allow one plate to lie on a table, with cloth between the two plates, and allow the proper heating to be effected by a hot flatiron, or the like, resting on the upper plate, the cloth being meanwhile protected from contact with the table, which might soil the cloth, and from contact with the hot ilat-iron, which might burn it.

I claim as my invention- The combination of the crimping or iuting plates a b, handles c, and mortised latch f, all subtantially as described,I and for the purposes set forth.

THEODORE E. KING.

Witnesses WM. E. SIMoNDs, RoBr. F. GAYLORD. 

